Autograph Letter Signed from 'the Whitechapel Road murderer' Henry Wainwright, asking an unnmaed individual to preside at a 'testimonial Entertainment' for 'Mr. Talbot' at the Beaumont Institution, Mile End Road.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The word 'Declined' has been written at the head of the letter by the recipient. The first paragraph reads: 'A number of influential gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Mile End and Bow, in recognition of the services of Mr Talbot, have resolved to give him a testimonial Entertainment on the 27th inst. at the Beaumont Institution.' The 'Committee' have requested Wainwright to ask the recipient to 'kindly preside on that occasion'. Wainwright was a successful brush manufacturer, and his victim Harriet Lane was one of his mistresses, and the mother of two children by him. In 1875 he murdered her and buried the body in his warehouse at 215 Whitechapel Road. When financial difficulties forced the sale of the warehouse, he dug up the body and cut it into parts. He was caught attempting to transfer the remains to a disused pub in Southwark.